A motor vehicle is known e.g. from DE 10 2009 010 509 A1. The centralized locking system of such a conventional motor vehicle comprises a central control unit that is adapted to receive a remote control signal and to address, in reaction to the remote control signal, peripheral control units of the doors which, in turn, switch the locks of the doors between locked and unlocked states. In the locked state, the door locks do not react upon operation of external handling means installed at an outer side of the doors; from the unlocked state, a door lock can be brought into a released state by operation of its associated external handling means. In the released state the door is freely displaceable between closed and open positions.
In each door of this conventional vehicle, the external handling means and an internal handling means are mechanically connected to the lock. Elements required for transmitting an operating force between one of the handling means and its associated lock must be adapted to the shape of the door and to the placement of the handling means and the lock within the door. Therefore, they must be developed and manufactured specifically for each vehicle model, and, in comparison to parts that can be used for a plurality of vehicle models, they are rather expensive.
The diversity of parts required for different vehicle models makes the logistics of the manufacturing process complicated and laborious. Therefore, it is desirable to use, in the locking system of a motor vehicle, as few model-specific parts as possible. One way to reach this goal is to use an electrically operated locking system. From the technical point of view, it is easy to connect external and internal handling means of a door to an electric switch, the position of which is detected by a central control unit, and to have the central control unit send command signals corresponding to the detected switch position to the door locks. However, there is the problem that if in case of an accident the central control unit, its energy supply or a signal path between the central control unit and a door lock is damaged and one or more locks may operate in less than an optimal manner.
In view of the foregoing, at least one object is therefore to provide a motor vehicle which ensures sufficient operativeness of the doors without requiring a mechanical coupling between handling means and locks of the doors. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.